Hi, this game definitively deserves a comment ! - And a very detailed one actually
First of all, I see that there is a real effort of quality behind it. There are many interesting features (enemy attacks, research system, marketplace...), and you've combined many ideas into a complete and coherent world. That's impressive.
I don't know if you ever want to update it, but here are some suggestions (no criticism, just potential improvements):
- islands: very great idea, I get the mood. Try to reduce the level of details when displaying the whole map.
- tax system: honestly one of the trickiest part to balance. Idea is interesting, but you lack to consequence of the morale level. Maybe happy citizens would increase production and unhappy ones ruin it ? As your city grows, it becomes too easy to keep a high level of happiness. I raised the tax to 50% in my large cities at the extreme enjoyment of my citizens (yes, it's golden age for them).
- money: it is closely linked to the tax system: at high tax levels allowed you clearly get monstrous amounts of useless money. It's fine that you can trade with the merchant or open a chest. Quite fun the random bundles you get. But I would have to open thousands of chests to ever use that money (which would take me much longer than writing this comment) - or maybe a 1M mega chest ??
- research: interesting system, but I would increase the research point costs. It's done in around 2-3 days.
- war: all players are pacifists (except one who attacked me before sincerely apologising). But you get the constant aggression by NPC camps. If one would know how to make the real world as peaceful as this "conquest and strategy" game...
- trade routes: essential when you want to exchange special ressources between your cities. Very few runs actually happen, but I except the server to run only when someone connects. Probably the easiest fix is to make it a "one run" system: you plan the trip, send, and after one run it stops.
- overall design: UI intuitive and nice. Whatever engine you used it was a great choice for such a game. I must admit that I felt some deception when seeing the city buildings first time (compared the idyllic cover pictures), but when you grow your city it starts to look great, and the custom city designs are very nice. Actually, you feel proud when you look at the city you've built. Personally, I would also try to make the environment around the city view a bit more realistic, maybe going further with the ideas of trees and large mountains in the background.
- audience: very few regular players - but I think it's unfortunately and sadly normal on this website. I am not the one who will give you valuable hints because my game is a total crash. But try to add your game to some jams, and also promote it trough social media if you can.
That's a lot of suggestions, and you really don't have to implement them all to improve your game. The work you've done so far is already fantastic ! I really enjoyed spending a few hours in these islands, and returning to my cities when time said the storehouse was full. (Btw the islands deposits are upgraded to max if any new player wants to join).
Many thanks for sharing this game !
And good luck, whatever you decide to do next,
--- (These three minus signs are my name in the game - I still regret my lack of inspiration)
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed comment. I honestly really appreciate it.
Comments like yours are exactly one of the reasons why I enjoy making games. Knowing that someone actually spent several hours exploring the islands, building cities, experimenting with the systems, and then took even more time to write thoughtful feedback means a lot to me.
And thank you especially for pointing out not only what you liked, but also the things that could be improved. A lot of your suggestions make very good sense.
The tax and happiness balance definitely needs more consequences, especially in larger cities. Your "golden age at 50% tax" made me laugh, because that is probably a pretty good sign that something needs balancing. :D
The money economy is also something I want to improve. Once a city grows enough, the amount of gold can become much larger than the number of meaningful ways to spend it. A huge late-game chest or other expensive mechanics could actually be a fun solution.
Research progression, trade routes and NPC/player warfare are also areas I would like to continue improving. Your idea of making trade routes work as individual planned trips is especially interesting and could also solve some technical problems with the way the game currently processes them.
I'm also very happy that you mentioned the feeling of being proud of your city once it grows. That is exactly one of the feelings I wanted the game to create. I agree that the surroundings could still become much more alive too — larger mountains, forests, more natural terrain and generally a richer environment around the city.
The game is definitely not finished in my mind, and feedback like this gives me a lot of motivation to continue developing it.
Actually, if you would ever be interested, I would be very happy if you wanted to help me with the game in some way. You clearly understand the systems very well and you notice things that are difficult for me to see as the developer.
It could be anything — testing new features, discussing balancing and ideas, suggesting improvements, helping shape future mechanics, or simply telling me when something feels wrong or could be better. There is absolutely no obligation, of course, but I would genuinely enjoy developing the game together with someone who cares about it as much as you seem to.
And regarding your name "---" — I think after writing the longest and probably most useful comment Royal Castle has received so far, those three minus signs have officially become memorable. :D
Thank you again for playing Royal Castle, for giving it so much of your time, and especially for writing this feedback.
Players like you are exactly why making games is fun for me.
I really hope to see you again on the islands!
Thank you for your kind answer. I am very happy if my comments can be of any help for your projects - already as an encouragement to continue developing great games ! I am ready to help you further if you want. I have added some more discussion about the tax balance issue here.
Here is a screenshot of how I manage taxes in most of my cities :D And I think there is still some margin to go above 50% tax (whatever this means). The worst thing about it is probably that I have absolutely no use of the collected fortune... But since they are extremely happy, it would be rude of me not to accept their generosity.
My first suggestion would be to lower the +5 mood per museum level and +4 per tavern level. It seems far too much compared to the penalty of overcrowding, although I have no details (having 400-500 citizens is not a problem if you have a few levels of these buildings).
Another option would be to think the mood system differently. Here is an interesting way of how it is implemented in another game I know (chronoscz.itch.io/c-evo). You start with a fixed amount of morale points (eg 20). For each point, you can have a free citizen that you would assign to any work. As your city grows, you reach the morale point limit. Technically, this translates into part of your citizens being assigned as city guards/police to give you more morale points. In addition to this, you can also lower the tax or have special buildings that increase the morale/mood limit, just as in your game.
Their system is even more complex than what I described, and I am not sure I wrote it clearly. But the main idea is: mood is not just a 0-100 indicator, it is a parameter that affects how many of your citizens you are allowed to use, part of them being frozen for maintaining security in your city. And you go from small penalty of overcrowding, to fighting for the right to increase your population.
I don't know if any of these suggestions inspire you for the fix. Maybe tax and mood is not the funniest part of the game to work on. It's mostly a technical question, and it can get very complicated. Going for a simple fix could be enough, and free time for other questions. Anyway, feel free to discuss any topics of your game.